Andy SiglerI make things.https://andysigler.github.io/
Tensorflow Simpsons Morph<h1 id="click-here-to-try-it-out"><a href="https://andysigler.github.io/ml-experiments/experiments/4/output">Click here to try it out!</a></h1>
<p>This experiment uses a convolutional autoencoder for performing principle component analysis on images of The Simpsons faces.</p>
<p>This time, I wanted to focus on hyper-parameter tuning. Instead of guessing hyper-parameters and then overfitting, instead I built methods for iteratively training different parameters, and then analyzing the results on validation data.</p>
Wed, 21 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000https://andysigler.github.io/machine-learning/tensorflow-simpsons-morph/
https://andysigler.github.io/machine-learning/tensorflow-simpsons-morph/Tensorflow Doodling MDN<h1 id="click-here-to-try-it-out"><a href="https://andysigler.github.io/ml-experiments/experiments/3/output">Click here to try it out!</a></h1>
<p>Here’s another small experiment in machine learning. I wanted to make a model that can mimic how I doodle.</p>
<p>This time, I used an MDN output layer to attempt to generate “real-world” samples from the output of an RNN model.</p>
Wed, 07 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000https://andysigler.github.io/machine-learning/tensorflow-doodling-mdn/
https://andysigler.github.io/machine-learning/tensorflow-doodling-mdn/Tensorflow Vocoder Autoencoder<h1 id="click-here-to-try-it-out"><a href="https://andysigler.github.io/ml-experiments/experiments/2">Click here to try it out!</a></h1>
<p>As one of the first small experiments I have made while teaching myself machine learning and tensorflow, I made something I find kind of fun/weird.</p>
<p>I built an autoencoder that learned David Attenborough’s vocal features, and allow it to generate throat noises with an XY pad in the browser.</p>
Fri, 19 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000https://andysigler.github.io/machine-learning/tensorflow-vocoder-autoencoder/
https://andysigler.github.io/machine-learning/tensorflow-vocoder-autoencoder/Tensorflow Learning Materials<p>[Updated July 11, 2019]</p>
<p>Beginning to absorb machine learning, and how I might apply it towards my interests, has been a daunting task these past few weeks. Even with all the hype, tensorflow has what feels like no (zero) good examples, tutorials, guides.</p>
<p>This is a list of the things I’ve used to understand machine learning concepts, tensorflow basics, and building a model.</p>
<p>[Note] these are ordered psuedo-chronologically, the idea being I wish I started at the first one, and ended with the last one.</p>
<h3 id="make-your-own-neural-network"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Own-Neural-Network-ebook/dp/B01EER4Z4G">Make Your Own Neural Network</a></h3>
<p>Great (short) book by Tariq Rashid, guides the reader through writing a simple deep network from scratch in python.</p>
<h3 id="machine-learning-for-artists"><a href="https://ml4a.github.io/ml4a/">Machine Learning for Artists</a></h3>
<p>Website and courses by Gene Kogan, and understanding neural networks from the non-engineering, creative perspective. The lecture are great to just sit back and watch, try to absorb before moving on to actually making anything.</p>
<h3 id="mit-6s191-introduction-to-deep-learning"><a href="http://introtodeeplearning.com/">MIT 6.S191: Introduction to Deep Learning</a></h3>
<p>This short course was taught January 2019 to MIT students, and is a great intro and overview of what machine learning and tensorflow can offer. There are just a few lectures, and some homework that goes with them.</p>
<h3 id="tensoflow-tutorials-from-github-user-aymericdamien"><a href="https://github.com/aymericdamien/TensorFlow-Examples">Tensoflow Tutorials from GitHub user aymericdamien</a></h3>
<p>These tutorials have the most stars on github, the I love them because they don’t have distracting dependencies. These tutorials also include both lower-level learning, plus later examples that use Keras layer.</p>
<h3 id="tensorflow-v2-alpha-tutorials"><a href="https://www.tensorflow.org/alpha">Tensorflow v2 Alpha Tutorials</a></h3>
<p>The offical tutorials. These are good for getting a deeper explaination from the developers. However, the tutorials have a lot of distracting dependencies, and the explainations tend to say a lot yet say very little…</p>
<h3 id="deep-learning-book"><a href="https://www.deeplearningbook.org/">Deep Learning Book</a></h3>
<p>I read that this was considered the “bible” of machine learning. I found that while it can be fairly dense with mathematics, there are some invaluable bottom-line summaries, suggestions, and best-practices riddled throughout this book.</p>
<h3 id="a-recipe-for-training-neural-networks"><a href="https://karpathy.github.io/2019/04/25/recipe/">A Recipe for Training Neural Networks</a></h3>
<p>Coming from designing electro-mechanical and wireless systems, I know how the development, test, and debug approach is very import. This reading gives what seems like great advice for how to approach buidling a model, step-by-step, to help catch mistakes when they happen.</p>
Sat, 18 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000https://andysigler.github.io/machine-learning/tensorflow-learning-materials/
https://andysigler.github.io/machine-learning/tensorflow-learning-materials/Updated - homemadehardware.com<p><a href="http://www.homemadehardware.com">See the new updated website here</a></p>
<p>DIY PCBs is a growing fascination among the maker types, but it’s hard to find a single spot online where to get all the DIY details you need to successfully:</p>
<ul>
<li>prototype</li>
<li>design</li>
<li>and fabricate</li>
</ul>
<p>This semester, I just finished teaching my <a href="http://www.homemadehardware.com">graduate course at ITP</a> for the fourth time, and decided to completely update the website.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.homemadehardware.com">See the new updated website here</a></p>
Fri, 17 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000https://andysigler.github.io/hardware/homemade-hardware-website-update/
https://andysigler.github.io/hardware/homemade-hardware-website-update/Colorful Solder Mask<p>This is exciting for me and my graduate course, <a href="http://www.homemadehardware.com">Homemade Hardware</a>. I figured out how to make DIY PCBs with any design and color soldermask I want (wow!).</p>
<p><img src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/colorful-solder-mask-cool-goo.jpg" alt="Mid-Process of Solder Mask" /></p>
<p>The reason this is so exciting for my class, is because I teach non-engineers, mostly artists and designers, how to design and fabricate circuit boards. If I am able to teach them how to make those same boards with any 2d design they want, I expect it will make them even more excited about the course.</p>
<p>Not to mention, I hope some students will make some truly beautiful boards that would otherwise (not DIY) be possible (or at least not easy to get made somewhere).</p>
<p>For now, I have no documentation of the process, but next Spring I will be including this process in my class website.</p>
Fri, 17 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000https://andysigler.github.io/hardware/colorful-solder-mask/
https://andysigler.github.io/hardware/colorful-solder-mask/Homemade Hardware<p>I’ve been teaching graduate students at <a href="http://tisch.nyu.edu/itp">NYU’s ITP program</a> since 2015 as an adjunct professor, teaching a course of my own making title Homemade Hardware (<a href="http://www.homemadehardware.com">link to my class website</a>). There, student learn to design and fabricate do-it-yourself PCBs, all without leaving the school.</p>
<p>ITP is the birthplace of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_computing">physical computing</a>, so students there have been excited to take greater control over their hardware projects. Some project examples are shown in the picture at the top of this page, and they include:</p>
<ul>
<li>analog and digital musical instruments</li>
<li>tiny wall-mounted GIF players</li>
<li>knitting wearables</li>
<li>childrens’ toys</li>
<li>smart cigarette lighter</li>
<li>wireless sensors</li>
<li>and many more…</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="what-exactly-is-taught">What Exactly is Taught?</h2>
<p>To make a working PCB for a physical computing project, a variety of new skills must be learned relatively quickly in a semester. From electronics basics, to CAD design, and milling machines, it definitely true that hardware is hard, but in the end is most rewarding.</p>
<p>We start the semester off taking ITP’s most common circuit board, the <a href="https://store.arduino.cc/usa/arduino-uno-rev3">Arduino Uno</a>, and breaking it down to it’s most simple form (just the micro on a breadboard). We then take an indepth look at how a piece of code is placed onto the micro, so that now the students no longer need an actual Arduino to make their projects.</p>
<p><img src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/arduino-to-breadboard.png" alt="Arduino to Breadboard" /></p>
<p>Then, there’s a quick review of electronics basics, just the bare minimum so they can make simple digital circuits. With this new knowledge in place, they get their hands dirty soldering through-hole PCBs, and populating their first surface-mount PCB. ITP has a nice reflow oven, set of heat guns, and the most amazing manual pick-and-place machine (pictured below).</p>
<p><img src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/smt-place-2000.jpg" alt="SMT Place 2000" /></p>
<p>Then it’s off to the fun stuff, design with <a href="https://www.autodesk.com/products/eagle/overview">Eagle CAD</a> and micro-milling with <a href="https://www.bantamtools.com/pages/products">Bantam Tools’ Desktop PCB Milling Machine</a>. This is where they can start putting their ideas down into board designs, and quickly milling them to test and try out. The desktop PCB milling machine is was the original game-changer that kickstarted this class, and it’s great to see it doing well and continuing to improve.</p>
<p><img src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/bantam.jpg" alt="Bantam Tools' Desktop PCB Milling Machine" /></p>
<p>The final weeks of the class, I shift to acid etching PCBs using muriatic acid, and a laser-cutter to remove the acid-blocking ink (this is to replace the older toner-transfer method). While acid etching combined with micro-milling yields the best PCB quality, only a handful of students in the past have chosen acid etching, probably because the process is long and more prone to mistakes.</p>
<h2 id="lessons-learned-on-diy-pcbs">Lessons Learned on DIY PCBs</h2>
<p>During my <a href="https://andysigler.github.io/projects/patchbay">master’s thesis at ITP</a>, I thought that homemade PCBs would spur some kind of maker revolution, similar to 3d printing. Now I’m not as pie-in-the-sky as I was then (like some 3d printing evangelicals from years past may also feel), but I do think homemade PCBs are a welcome addition to the maker processes. And perhaps it will continue to get easier and easier.</p>
<p>I’ve learned that the short-term benefits to students are that they are able to build ITP projects that do not fall apart easily (this is most noticable when my students perform at the NIME concert and their piece does not break). Also, they are better able to build a polished look and size for their hardware projects during thesis and in their portfolio.</p>
<p>In the long-term, students have been able to move on and work with electronics professionally, just as I did. Making DIY PCBs is not a normal way of learning electronics, but I think it is a strength because once they move on to professionally made PCBs, it seems so much easier that it’s not intimidating any more.</p>
Tue, 19 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000https://andysigler.github.io/teaching/homemade-hardware/
https://andysigler.github.io/teaching/homemade-hardware/OT2 Electronics<p>The Opentrons OT2 liquid handler is the next step in opensource lab automation, and I’m proud to have been one of the few designers and engineers to work on it.</p>
<p>During the OT2’s design and production, I had complete ownership of the machine’s electronics and firmware aspects (small startups, yea!).</p>
<video id="vid_ot2" style="width:100%; height:auto; border:1px solid #aaa" width="854" height="480" controls="" loop="" muted="">
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<p><br /></p>
<h2 id="circuit-boards">Circuit Boards</h2>
<p>The machine has 13 circuit boards inside it (plus a Raspberry Pi 3 and USB camera). Each of these boards was designed, prototyped, tested, certified (CE/FCC) and brought to production by me (small startups, yea!).</p>
<p>See where each boards lives in the graphic below:</p>
<p><img src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/ot2_pcb_artwork.jpg" alt="OT2 with PCBs" /></p>
<p>The most important PCB is the motor driver board in the machines head. This board is a 4-layer bad boy, which can control 6 stepper motors, and runs a fork of the opensource <a href="https://github.com/opentrons/Smoothiewareot">Smoothieware</a> firwmare.</p>
<p>All the rest of the boards are used to route signals between the driver board, the Raspberry Pi 3, and elsewhere. Plus there are boards for switches, connectors, buttons, etc.</p>
<p>Below are some pictures of the real-life PCBs in an opened up machine:</p>
<p><img src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/ot2_production_boards.jpg" alt="OT2 PCBs" /></p>
<p><img style="max-width:33%" src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/ot2_production_caitlyn.jpg" />
<img style="max-width:63%;margin-left:3.5%" src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/ot2_production_kris.jpg" /></p>
<p><br /></p>
<h2 id="flex-ribbon-cable">Flex Ribbon Cable</h2>
<p>One exciting part of the design was to figure out how to route 32 conductors (power, data, and motor signals) across a 2-meter long ribbon cable. Not only is this cable being bent and twisted all over the place, but it’s carrying multiple types of signals that could all interfere during a protocol run.</p>
<p>See the 2-meter ribbon cable in the picture below:</p>
<p><img src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/ot2_production_cables.jpg" alt="OT2 Ribbon Cables" /></p>
<p><br /></p>
<h2 id="electronic-pipettes">Electronic Pipettes</h2>
<p>The OT2 electronic pipettes use a fairly simple mechanism to move the plunger up and down (seen in the animation below). The stepper motor inside the pipette is actually being driven by one of the 6 stepper axis on the main driver PCB, so no motor driver was required in the pipette.</p>
<p>The electronics inside the pipette are mostly used for storing unique serial and model numbers, and data lines for communicating that information back.</p>
<p><img style="max-width:63%" src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/pipette_diagram.gif" />
<img style="max-width:33%;margin-left:3.5%" src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/ot2_production_pipette.png" /></p>
<p><br /></p>
<h2 id="tip-probe">Tip Probe</h2>
<p>This thing is cool. It’s a series of 5 switches, used to detect the precise and accurate position of a disposable tip on a pipette.</p>
<p>By simply moving to press against each switch, the OT2’s system is able to calculate the position, height, and diameter of a pipette tip. This allows the machine to then move the point of that tip accurately within any labware.</p>
<video id="vid_tip_probe" style="width:100%;max-width:600px; height:auto; border:1px solid #aaa" width="854" height="480" controls="" loop="" muted="">
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<source src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/tip_probe.mp4" type="video/mp4" />
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<p><br /></p>
<h2 id="more-pcb-artwork">More PCB Artwork</h2>
<p><img src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/ot2_pcb_art_vertical.jpg" alt="OT2 PCBs Artwork" /></p>
<p><br /></p>
<h2 id="some-pictures-from-before--after-launch">Some Pictures from Before &amp; After Launch</h2>
<p><img src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/ot2_camera.jpg" alt="OT2 on Camera" /></p>
<p><img src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/ot2_prototype_gantry.jpg" alt="OT2 Prototype" /></p>
<p><img src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/ot2_prototype_pcbs.jpg" alt="OT2 Prototype Batch" /></p>
<p><img style="max-width:33%" src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/ot2_prototype_caitlyn.jpg" />
<img style="max-width:63%;margin-left:3.5%" src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/ot2_prototype_face.png" /></p>
<p><img src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/ot2_prototype_CE.jpg" alt="OT2 CE" /></p>
<p><img src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/ot2_factory_people.jpg" alt="Opentrons Employees in Shenzhen" /></p>
Tue, 19 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000https://andysigler.github.io/products/opentrons-ot2/
https://andysigler.github.io/products/opentrons-ot2/Opentrons Modules<p>During 2017-‘18, I was the sole electronics designer and firmware developer for the two Opentrons Modules; <a href="https://opentrons.com/modules">the Temperature Module and the Magnetic Module</a>. These devices connect to the Opentrons OT2 hardware platform over simple USB connections, so they are easy to setup, use, and can even be used outside of the Opentrons platform (if anyone wants to do that).</p>
<p>For each of these devices, I worked on a small team of 2-4 people doing early ideation, design, testing, design for manufacturing, and quality control, with myself owning the electronics, firmware, and testing side of things.</p>
<h2 id="temperature-module">Temperature Module</h2>
<p>It keeps hot things hot and cold things cold! The Temperature Module can hold a temperature between 4-94 Celsius with +/- 1 Celcius accuracy and uniformity.</p>
<p>It uses two peltier devices to either heat or cool the top plate. A heatsink and fan are then used to cool the bottom side of the peltier devices. A number display at the top of the device shows the curren temperature, and either red or blue color to indicate temperature.</p>
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<p><img style="max-width:32%;" src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/ot2_temp_deck_2.jpg" />
<img style="max-width:32%;margin-left:1.4%" src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/ot2_temp_deck_3.jpg" />
<img style="max-width:32%;margin-left:1.4%" src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/ot2_temp_deck_4.jpg" /></p>
<p><br /></p>
<h2 id="magnetic-module">Magnetic Module</h2>
<p>The Magnetic Module raises a set of magnets near the user’s sample, in order to attract iron beads that have been attached to a specific DNA strand they want to isolate (science!).</p>
<p>This device is simply composed of a stepper motor moving along a rail (to raise/lower the magnets), plus the electronics to move said motor.</p>
<video id="vid_ot2_mag_deck" style="width:100%; height:auto; border:1px solid #aaa" width="854" height="480" controls="" loop="" muted="">
<source src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/ot2_mag_deck.webm" type="video/webm" />
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<p><img src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/ot2_mag_deck_pcb.jpg" alt="Mag Deck PCB" /></p>
<p><img src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/ot2_modules_cables.jpg" alt="Modules cables" /></p>
Tue, 19 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000https://andysigler.github.io/products/opentrons-modules/
https://andysigler.github.io/products/opentrons-modules/Tomorrow Lab<p>I spent about a year working as a Electronics Design Engineer at <a href="https://www.tomorrow-lab.com">Tomorrow Lab</a>. It was a wonderful experience, as it was my first job outside of the NYU sphere, and we were constantly working on new initiatives and technologies.</p>
<p>Below I have described three products that I contributed to, some with more contributions than others. However, as Tomorrow Lab is hired by outside companies to design, some of the products that we spent considerable time on were never revealed to the world for any number of reasons outside of our control. Those that did not make it are not shown on this page, which is too bad (sad-face).</p>
<p><br />
<br /></p>
<h3 id="waycount---traffic-counter">WayCount - Traffic Counter</h3>
<p><a href="https://www.tomorrow-lab.com/work/waycount">See documentation on Tomorrow Lab’s website</a></p>
<p>The WayCount it a car-counting device. It uses long tubes stretched across a rode to sense a car, logs the time it happened, and then transfers the accumulated data over Bluetooth to the owner’s smartphone.</p>
<p><img src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/waycount-1.jpg" alt="WayCount Traffic Counter" /></p>
<p>The motivations behind making the, as conceived by Ted Ulrich at Tomorrow Lab, was to be an affordable, easy to use, and well designed device help monitor and plan traffic flows. The original WayCount transferred it’s data over USB, and had a more DIY feel. This next generation model was better designed, more accurate, and allowed data transfer wirelessly to make retrieval easier.</p>
<p>My personal contributions to this project were early component testing and selection, systems design, firmware development, electrical/PCB design, and testing.</p>
<p><img src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/waycount-2.jpg" alt="WayCount Traffic Counter" /></p>
<h4 id="how-it-works">How it Works</h4>
<p>When a wheel passes over the rubber tubes, it compresses the air inside, sending that pressure out to the ends of the tube. There are two tubes a few inches apart, so that the direction of the wheel can be estimated. Inside the device, a small piezo microphone is press-fit against the tube, to detect when there is a change in air pressure.</p>
<p>Small amplifiers are used to boost the signal into a higher voltage. This signal then triggers the onboard analog counting ICs. These ICs were able to increment their binary outputs on every rising edge of the input signal, allowing very fast consecutive pulses to be temporarily recorded. Once a counter hit its limit, the microntroller would wake up from deep sleep and record the number of pulses that have occured since the last recording.</p>
<p>The microcontroller inside is the NRF51822 from Nordic, which has built-in Bluetooth LE capabilities, as well as ultra low-power features to conserve battery power. With the combination of the analog counting ICs and the NRF51’s low-power consumption, the device is able to stay powered on a single battery for a few years.</p>
<p><br />
<br /></p>
<h3 id="lotik---water-monitor">Lotik - Water Monitor</h3>
<p><a href="https://www.tomorrow-lab.com/work/lotik">See documentation on Tomorrow Lab’s website</a></p>
<p>This device, designed for <a href="http://lotik.com">Lotik Labs</a>, is a water-usage monitor of for residential plumbing. The device is clamped onto any water pipe, like for a sink, faucet, or toilet, and it can detect when and how much water is flowing. This data is then sent wireless to a central hub located in the building, to transmit to Lotik’s central monitoring service.</p>
<p><img src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/lotik-1.jpg" alt="Lotik Labs' Water Monitor" /></p>
<p>Intended to be used by apartment building owners, installing many devices within a single building not only helps the devices communicate back to the internet, but also gives greater understanding into how, when, and who is using water in a building. Traditionally, a single apartment is given a single meter to track how much water is used, but with Lotik’s technology, the detail can be focused down to individual uses.</p>
<p>My personal contributions to this project were early component testing and selection, systems design, firmware development, electrical/PCB design, and testing.</p>
<p><img src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/lotik-2.jpg" alt="Lotik Labs' Water Monitor" /></p>
<h4 id="how-it-works-1">How it Works</h4>
<p>The Lotick water monitor detects vibrations along a water pipe to detect and analyze the water usage. First, the device is mechanically clamped down and lock onto a water pipe. Once powered on, it’s onboard acclerometer measures the vibrations’ intensity, frequency, and duration. This information is then sent wirelessly to a central hub and then on to Lotik’s central servers.</p>
<p>The microcontroller used was the NRF51422 from Nordic, selected primarily to utilize its built-in ANT+ wireless technology. ANT+ is a protocol which uses the same physical layer as Bluetooth LE, however it was designed for use with low-power mesh networking.</p>
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<h3 id="rally---phone-charger">Rally - Phone Charger</h3>
<p><a href="https://www.tomorrow-lab.com/work/rally">See documentation on Tomorrow Lab’s website</a></p>
<p>The Rally Charging Cable was designed for <a href="http://rallycharge.com/">Rally</a>, to a simple iPhone charging cable for public use. Any user, whether at a restaurant, bar, or other public space, can simply connect their phone to get a quick charge. When connected, the device charges the iPhone like normal, except the iPhone will display advertisements while being charged. Once the user is done charging, simply unplug and the advertisements stop.</p>
<p><img src="https://andysigler.github.io/images/rally-1.jpg" alt="Rally's iPhone Charger" /></p>
<p>My contributions to this project were minimal, as it was finishing up when I first joined Tomorrow Lab. I contributed to final PCB design and testing for the integrated iPhone cable.</p>
Mon, 04 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000https://andysigler.github.io/products/tomorrow-lab/
https://andysigler.github.io/products/tomorrow-lab/